In 1952, Al Thome married Emmy Werner in her hometown of
Offenbach, Germany, just south of Frankfurt in the state of
Hesse. Al was stationed in Frankfurt while serving in the U.S.
military when he met the young Miss Werner. The couple
lived in Germany during the early years of marriage. During
that time, Emmy and her mother taught Al how to cook
authentic German cuisine using her mother’s family recipes. A
few years later, Al and Emmy came to the U.S. to live in his
home state of Illinois. In 1960, the couple moved to Fort
Smith, Arkansas.

After living in Fort Smith for a short time, they realized there
was an opportunity for them to start their own business and
bring a little bit of Emmy’s homeland to the area. At the time,
there were no German restaurants in Fort Smith. Emmy and
Al were confident they knew how to cook up am
wunderbarsten (the most wonderful) German food around.
So, in 1962, with Al’s help in the kitchen, they opened their
first Bavarian-styled restaurant in a small building on North
11th Street, near downtown Fort Smith. Later, they moved to
an old Victorian style home at 602 North 16th Street and
named their restaurant “Zum Deutschen Eck” (The German
Corner). They later changed the name to Emmy’s German
Restaurant and thus began a Fort Smith tradition that lasted
over 40 years. To read moreclick here.